Jibo already shed some light on how it borrowed from the classic principles of animation to bring the social robot to life. The principles are intended to help produce characters that are more realistic.
Another characteristic that’s needed to bring Jibo to life is a voice, which we’re now hearing more about. After months of scouting out the right talent earlier in 2015, the design team has finally locked in Jibo’s voice.
In the video below, Jibo VP of Design Blade Kotelley talks about how the design team selected Jibo’s voice and how that affects human-robot interaction.
“The objective was to make sure he came across as being a young, male character,” Kotelley says. “Someone who’s earnest and energetic. Helpful. That’s the kind of qualities we wanted to put in the robot.”
Kotelley continues, “we thought about what kind of movie best embodies Jibo. We thought that the movie Back to the Future, had that Marty McFly earnest but helpful young person.”
Is that a hint from Kotelley? How cool would it be if Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) was the voice of Jibo?
Sign me up.
Unfortunately, the video below is a giant tease as it doesn’t reveal the name of the voice talent behind Jibo. I hate waiting games.